Trump’s illness prompted the White House to cancel political events on Friday, including a planned rally outside Orlando, Florida. Campaign and fundraising trips planned for the next few days, including visits to key battlefields like Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Nevada, are expected to be canceled as the president remains in quarantine at the White House.
Trump leans on his political events in person to raise cash and build excitement among supporters as he tries to regain ground against Democratic nominee Joe Biden, who is leading the polls and fundraising in large part because of the president’s response to the virus now it afflicts him. he.
Trump had hoped to divert the focus of the last few weeks from the pandemic campaign and focus on his Supreme Court candidate, economic recovery and civil unrest – all issues in which he believes he has an advantage. But the lack of his signature rallies and the shift in focus on the very issues that most excite his voters will likely make it difficult to close the gap with Biden, who has held a steady roughly 7 percentage point lead in national polls for some time.
Now, the next few weeks are sure to be dominated by a constant discussion about Trump’s health, turning attention to a pandemic that most Americans believe he has mishandled.
His political concerns are only compounded by the immediate risk of the virus to Trump, a 74-year-old man now battling a disease that has killed more than 200,000 Americans since February. Even if the president remains asymptomatic, he will be challenged to keep both the public and the financial markets calm as he tries to carry out his revenge campaign while being held in the White House residence.
US stock futures fell about 1% early Friday after Trump said he and his wife had tested positive. The announcement came hours after a Bloomberg News report that Hope Hicks, one of the president’s closest aides, had fallen ill with the virus.
The implications of the president’s diagnosis are likely to affect his Democratic rival as well, beyond inserting a major new variable into an already unpredictable campaign.
Biden will have to decide whether he should also self-quarantine, after sharing a debate stage with the president just 72 hours before his positive test. While the Biden campaign did not immediately comment on Trump’s infection, they have said that Biden undergoes tests regularly and that they would announce if he contracted the virus.
The former vice president is scheduled to travel to Grand Rapids, Michigan, on Friday to comment on his economic agenda and then participate in a voter mobilization event. His campaign did not respond to a question about whether that journey is still continuing.
Even if Biden and his team avoided exposure in the first debate, they face the challenge of navigating the historical development as voters across the country begin to cast their votes. The Democratic candidate will need to adopt the right tone, making sure not to appear to revel in his opponent’s illness while continuing to attack the president’s attitude and policies toward the virus.
In the past, presidents have seen their poll numbers improve as a result of health problems, and the president can be rewarded if voters rally around him. President Ronald Reagan’s approval in the Washington Post-ABC News poll increased 11 percentage points after a failed assassination attempt in his first term.
UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who battled the virus in April, saw a sharp rise in popularity after his diagnosis. More than half of Britons, 51%, said they had a favorable opinion of the prime minister the day after their infection, 17 points more than the previous month, according to Ipsos MORI.
But voters may have a different perspective on Trump, who has disobeyed the advice of public health authorities. The president rarely wears a mask and has defiantly resumed holding large campaign rallies, even as state and local officials have implored him not to. In a Reuters poll released earlier this week, only 41% of voters said they approved of the way Trump was handling the pandemic.
And the president is likely to face criticism for his decision to travel to New Jersey on Thursday for a fundraiser at his Bedminster golf course, despite Hicks testing positive for the virus and showing symptoms aboard Air Force One. the previous night. Despite that exposure, Trump went ahead with trips that saw him share enclosed spaces with key personnel.
During their debate, Biden and Trump discussed precautions, including wearing masks, during Tuesday’s debate, with the former vice president calling the president “foolish” and “totally irresponsible” for discouraging preventive measures. Trump responded by mocking his Democratic rival for being too cautious.
“I don’t wear masks like him,” Trump said. “Every time you see him, he has a mask on. He could be talking 200 feet away from me and he shows up wearing the largest mask I’ve ever seen.” “
Trump’s diagnosis could be especially tricky given the president’s public messages about the virus. He has urged Americans to return to work and school, frequently minimizing the risk of anyone being infected or killed. If he and his wife are lucky and do not experience symptoms or a mild illness, the president may feel more emboldened.
Trump could also face a dilemma over whether to withdraw from the race if his health deteriorates. In 2016, after the release of the movie “Access Hollywood,” senior Republicans investigated the logistics of replacing Trump with Mike Pence at the top of the list. But more than 30 states have already sent ballots to voters, and more of them will begin early voting efforts in the future days.
Trump’s doctor said early Friday that he hoped “that the president will continue to fulfill his duties without interruption while he recovers,” but the implications of the diagnosis are far-reaching.
It is not clear, but it is unlikely that Trump will be able to participate in the second presidential debate, scheduled for October 15. The president’s campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment on its plans, but if Trump is forced to withdraw from the debate, it could deprive him of one of his last chances to highlight his contrasts with Biden before a large television audience.
The president trails Biden by about 7.2 points nationally, according to an average of RealClearPolitics polls. Network polls after the first chaotic debate showed voters viewed the Democrat as the winner.
The president’s diagnosis is also expected to have a significant impact on the campaign and White House staff, who, if they follow existing federal health guidelines, may need to be quarantined for the next two weeks.
The President, First Lady Melania Trump, and Hicks traveled with a large group of White House and campaign staff to the first presidential debate Tuesday night in Cleveland, and the President and Hicks also attended political events Wednesday in Minnesota. .
Those seen at the president’s company in recent days include campaign manager Bill Stepien, senior advisers Ivanka Trump, Jared Kushner and Stephen Miller, as well as top communications advisers Jason Miller and Kayleigh McEnany.
“The contract is being traced and the appropriate notifications and recommendations will be made,” said White House spokesman Judd Deere.
The diagnosis may also cripple Trump’s ability to raise cash for the final weeks of the campaign, even as Biden’s campaign set another fundraising record in September, topping the record $ 365 million it raised in August. Trump fell $ 154 million short of Biden in August, and his campaign has pulled out of television advertising in swing states even as the Democrat fills the airwaves.
Trump has tried to close that gap with high-cost in-person fundraising events. Their lunch Thursday in New Jersey raised $ 5 million, according to a Republican official.
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